Aizawl’s serial thief nabbed 200 kms Away From Town

He is accused of having broken into a house and stealing a policeman’s service pistol a week before last Christmas, and was also involved in a house break-in less than two months later where he stole a laptop.

The detained is accused of having broken into a house and stealing a policeman’s service pistol a week before last Christmas, and was also involved in a house break-in less than two months later where he stole a laptop.

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Jun 1: Mizoram Police have arrested a 33-year-old man accused of robbing five houses and at least one government premise over six months and stealing various items including cash, a policeman’s service pistol, a television set, a laptop and two cooking gas cylinders.

Lalhmingliana of Aizawl’s Bungkawn locality was arrested by police in eastern Champhai town (almost 200 kms away) after a manhunt was launched after one of his more recent heists.
He is accused of having broken into a house and stealing a policeman’s service pistol a week before last Christmas, and was also involved in a house break-in less than two months later where he stole a laptop.

In end-April, Lalhmingthanga again broke into the offices of the veterinary department and stole two gas cylinders. Six days later, he sneaked into another residence and stole an LED TV worth Rs 15,000.

Another six days later, he again stole Rs 84,000 in cash from a home and two days hence Rs 7000 more from another home elsewhere in the city.

He made his way towards Champhai town where he was picked up by police there, a police spokesperson said in Aizawl on Friday.

All the items Lalhmingliana is accused of having stolen have been recovered from the people he sold them to, who have in turn been arrested for buying stolen property.

READ MORE - Aizawl’s serial thief nabbed 200 kms Away From Town

Party drugs worth Rs 42 lakhs seized, two, including Myanmar, national arrested

The seizure and arrests took place on Wednesday night at a hotel in the city and the accused have been presented before a special narcotics court.

In the largest seizure of its kind so far this year, the special narcotics team of the Mizoram Police have seized 42,000 tablets of “party-drug” methamphetamine worth Rs 42 lakhs and arrested two men, one of them a Myanmar national, in Aizawl, a senior investigator said on Thursday.

The seizure and arrests took place on Wednesday night at a hotel in the city and the accused have been presented before a special narcotics court.

Lalrinzuala, 44, and Kawlhmingthanga, 54, were staying at room 119 of Chawlhna Hotel in Aizawl’s Zarkawt area with the consignment — packed in paper cartons and kept inside a large ruck-sack — when police apprehended them and the drugs, a highly-addictive narcotic that till today has no known medical treatment or rehabilitation process.

Kawlhmingthanga, a resident of Tamu near Myanmar’s Tahan township (an urban region in the neighbouring country’s Sagaing Division region), told investigators he received a consignment from Lalrinmawii of Tahan town with instructions that he contact a man named Zairemtluanga in Aizawl and gave him his cellphone number. He was also told he might look for other avenues to sell the narcotic himself and claim a 10 percent commission.

Kawlhmingthanga and Lalrinzuala, an Aizawl local, teamed up to find customers when they were traced by investigators posing as potential buyers. Zairemtluanga remains untraced and police said he might have slipped away during the arrest. Kawlhmingthanga, who said he has seen him twice in earlier transactions, told police he was present nearby at the time.

The arrested men have said the consignment was not meant to be sold in Aizawl but was supposed to be trafficked into Assam.

This is the first methamphetamine seizure made by police this year in Mizoram. Heroin is the more dominant drug in the state with tens of thousands addicted to it currently. There are few known regular methamphetamine users, according to rehabilitation centre staff.

READ MORE - Party drugs worth Rs 42 lakhs seized, two, including Myanmar, national arrested

Mizo govt memo on Bru repatriation

Aizawl: Mizoram government asked the Union Home Ministry to expedite release of fund meant for expenses of the resumption of repatriation of Brus from the six relief camps in neighbouring North Tripura district, scheduled to commence from the first week of June, a senior state home department official on Wednesday said.

Additional Secretary for Home Lalbiakzama told PTI that a memorandum was handed over by the state government to the visiting Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju during a dinner hosted by the state home minister R Lalzirliana last night.

The memorandum said that the MHA has only released Rs 4.70 crore which would be highly insufficient to meet the expenditure of the proposed repatriation of around 3,500 Bru families.

Mizoram government earlier submitted the Road Map-IV for repatriation of the Brus to the centre and asked for Rs 68 crore for the massive exercise.

The state government also asked the centre to accept 1971 as the cut-off year, as done in Assam, for determination of foreigners coming to Mizoram from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Earlier, the MoS for home denied the allegations that the BJP government at the centre has a soft corner for Buddhist illegal immigrants (Chakmas) while hardening its stance on Muslim illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Rijiju, who came for a two-day visit yesterday left Mizoram today by helicopter after visiting the integrated check post at Kawrpuichhuah, the proposed border trade centre for the Indo-Bangladesh border in south Mizoram's Lunglei district.

READ MORE - Mizo govt memo on Bru repatriation

Mizoram minister inaugurates CCTVs

Mizoram Home minister R. Lalzirlliana today inaugurated the Aizawl City Surveillance Project under which 56 CCTV cameras were installed at ten different locations in Aizawl.

The installation of 56 CCTV cameras was the first phase of the project for which the Ministry of Home Affairs alloted Rs 1265 crore.

The fund for implementation of the project was received from the Home Ministry under the Modernization of State Police Force.

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21 TB deaths in Mizoram

AIZAWL, May 26 : At least 21 people have died in Mizoram during the first three months of this year (January to March) due to tuberculosis, State Health department said.

The officials said that 2,703 people were tested for suspected TB cases of which 540 were found to be infected.

Of the 540 people found to be infected with TB, 44 were HIV positive, the officials said, adding that the majority of AIDS patients in the State died due to TB.

The officials said that 83 per cent of those infected with TB were cured during the period. – PTI

Centre to build garment making units in NE

Agartala, May 24 – The Centre has initiated a process of setting up readymade garment manufacturing centres in all the Northeastern States to generate employment, Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said.

“The Union Textile Ministry has initiated a process for setting up readymade garment manufacturing units in all the eight NE States to provide employment, mainly to women, and develop skill,” Gangwar said after laying foundations for an apparel and garment manufacturing unit and a silk printing unit in Agartala recently.

READ MORE - 21 TB deaths in Mizoram

New poultry hatchery inaugurated at Tanhril

Aizawl: Mizoram Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister C Ngunlianchunga on Monday inaugurated the INDBRO Poultry Hatchery at Tanhril near Aizawl, a joint venture of an Andhra Pradesh-based poultry giant and the Mizoram Poultry Development Society.

The hatchery was established at the cost of Rs 464.50 lakh to produce 41,000 layer, broiler and low input variety (dual purpose) chicks every month.

An official statement said the chicks produced in the hatchery would be sold to the poultry farmers at a subsidised rate in order to increase egg and chicken meat production of the state.

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Mizoram Cable network donates money for quake victims in Nepal

 Zonet, a local cable network based in Aizawl would hand over Rs 8.79 lakh for earthquake victims in Nepal today.

Zonet director R.K. Lianzuala said that the money collected from generous donors would be handed over to the leaders of the Mizo Welfare in Kathmandu today.

Different sections of the people in the state donated for the 'Mizoram for Nepal' fund amounting to Rs 6. 70 lakh while Rs 2.09 lakh was raised from selling of 14 artworks donated by the Mizoram Art Development Society.

All the Mizos, numbering about 50 families living in Nepal were safe when a severe earthquake hit the Himalayan Kingdom recently.

READ MORE - Mizoram Cable network donates money for quake victims in Nepal

Nirbhay Sharma not likely take charge as Mizoram Guv before May 20

Aizawl: Lt Gen (retd) Nirbhay Sharma, who was appointed as Governor of Mizoram, was unlikely to occupy the Raj Bhavan in Aizawl before May 20, state protocol officer David L Pachuau said on Saturday.

Pachuau said the Mizoram government could not fix the date for the swearing-in ceremony for the new Governor as it was still unclear when Sharma would come to Aizawl.

Sharma was transferred from Arunachal Pradesh and appointed as Mizoram Governor on May 12 for the remainder of his term.

Sharma would succeed Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, who was appointed to take additional charge of Mizoram and was sworn-in at Aizawl Raj Bhavan on April 4 last.

READ MORE - Nirbhay Sharma not likely take charge as Mizoram Guv before May 20

Bru repatriation to start from June 5

Agartala, May 18 :  Repatriation of the 32,000 Reang/ Bru displaced people from Mizoram, now sheltered in seven evacuee camps in Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura district, would begin from June 5, an official said today.

The decision was taken today in a tripartite meeting between the Mizoram government officials, representative of the evacuees and Tripura government officials held at Damcherra of Kanchanpur subdivision, officiating District Magistrate of North Tripura, Ranjit Kar told PTI.

He said that a 15-member delegation led by Deputy Collector of Mizoram's Mamit district held talks with the refugee leaders and Tripura government officials led by the officiating DM of North Tripura district.

The process of identification of the displaced people would start on June 2 in the Casco camp and continue till next day and the repatriation would start from June 5 and would continue till June 6 in the first phase.

Kar said the Home Ministry has announced a new package which was shown to the displaced people and they agreed to return home.

The displaced Reang/Brus took shelter in Tripura in phased manner following ethnic clashes with the Mizos over land since 1997.

READ MORE - Bru repatriation to start from June 5

25-year-old woman kills husband with machete in Mizoram

Police at Kawrthah arrested Kority on Thursday morning after getting reports of the homicide.

Aizawl: A 25-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday for allegedly killing her 32-year-old husband with a machete, which police said she used to inflict multiple wounds on his body including slitting his throat.

Kority alias Biaki and her husband Ram Mohan lived in Mualthuam village near Kawrthah town in Mizoram’s Mamit District.

The couple left their home to their farm on Wednesday without having had a meal and got into a quarrel in their hut, police said, adding it remained unclear what exactly caused Kority to attack her husband.

The couple has had a stormy relationship for some time.

She claimed during interrogation that her husband had tried to strangle her and that she retaliated with the machete.

Police at Kawrthah arrested Kority on Thursday morning after getting reports of the homicide.

Her husband’s body has been sent for post-mortem and the accused is scheduled to be presented before a court on Friday.

READ MORE - 25-year-old woman kills husband with machete in Mizoram

Senior OIL official found dead in Aizawl

A senior official of Oil India Limited posted in Mizoram died of cardiac arrest on Thursday morning, police said.

Rupankar Borkataky, 54, of Duliajan town in Assam’s Diburgarh district was found dead by his staff at the OIL’s official guest-house in Aizawl.

Staff had become worried after Borkataky, Head Chemist of the company’s Mizoram operations, did not turn up at the office at the usual time and phone calls to his room remained unanswered.

A senior police officer said his body was already cold by the time staff entered his room and found him lying dead.

Foul play has been ruled after a post-mortem and cardiac arrest is suspected as the cause of death.

His body is being accompanied by other OIL employees to Guwahati.

READ MORE - Senior OIL official found dead in Aizawl

Nirbhay Sharma Becomes Mizoram 7th Governor in this Year

Aizawl, May 14 : Government discharged Aziz Qureshi, and appointed Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma (who previously worked for Arunachal Pradesh) as the new Governor of Mizoram with service till 2018. He is the seventh governor of state in this year.

From July 2014 onwards, regular changes has begun in Mizoram governorship. Earlier V Purushothaman resigned and then moved to neighbouring state Nagaland. Later, next government appointed the Kamla Beniwal as a governor to Mizoram, who was earlier worked for Gujarat. She has several clashes with Gujarat state chief minister Narendra Modi so, within just four months 87-years old MS Beniwal was transferred to Mizoram from Gujarat.

After few days, in August 2014, MS Beniwal was also discharged on the claims of gross impropriety, including misuse of powers.  Later Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan was selected for governor position in the place of Beniwal, but he resigned, rejecting the assignment.

After few months, former bureaucrat V K Duggal and the former Delhi Police commissioner KK Paul took the charge. In December 2014, Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi was appointed as Governor of Mizoram, but in March 2015 he too discharged over the issue NDA government to court. Till now, West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi held the additional charge. Now Nirbhay Sharma is appointed and he is the seventh Governor of state within this year only with service time till 2018.

READ MORE - Nirbhay Sharma Becomes Mizoram 7th Governor in this Year

Tracing history through the lens

The Camera as Witness. A Serial History of Mizoram, North east India. Author: Joy L.K. Pachuan and Willem van Schendel. Publisher: Cambridge University Press Release.

“A picture speaks more than a thousand words”. This adage is eloquently proved by this book on the social history of Mizoram.

For generations, many historians have treated images as lesser sources of evidence about the past than words and figures. But today, visual collections increasingly provide the central evidence for entire historical arguments. Photographs are of particular interest because they were created exactly at the time when the events or conditions occur, whereas other primary sources (such as letters, memoirs, autobiographies or oral histories) are usually recorded later. Photographs thus provide instantaneous eyewitness (or rather camera-witness) accounts.

Majority of these images collected by the authors over the years are photographs — over 17,000 of them, covering the period between 1860s and the 2010s. A quarter of them can be found in archives in the United Kingdom, but most of them come from well over 100 private and some official collections in India. The selection reflects both the authors’ decision to highlight certain historical processes and the limitations that image quality imposed on their choice. This effort made it possible to reveal little known facets of Mizoram’s history and to demonstrate how photographs can alter the historical narrative we construct.

In the south of the Himalayas, a crescent of steep mountains acts as the boundary separating South Asia from South-East Asia. They are the Naga Hills in the North, the Mizo, Chin and Chittagong Hills in the Centre and the Arakan Hills in the South. For many years, social scientists and historians have overlooked the communities in these hills. Many myths and misunderstandings about these societies continue to swirl around public discourse and policy-making at national and international levels, whilst local voices are largely unheard, if not actively silenced.

This book presents in detail the services of missionaries in changing the attitude of the indigenous people towards dress codes, customs, education and hygiene amidst many adversities. Today, the people of Mizoram pride themselves on inhabiting one of the most literate regions of India. In fact, the districts of Aizawl and Serchhip are the most literate in the entire country.

By its use of visual sources, this book emphasises how ‘indigenous people’ in Mizoram have used cameras to produce distinct modern identities and represent themselves to themselves, consistently contesting outsiders’ imagination of them as isolated, backward and in need of uplift.

The pictures become a testimony to the cultural development achieved by the Mizos during this period. A link between education in the European style and European dress was established early on, and it has persisted. This is notable in a sense, because in other parts of British India, the emergence of anti-colonial nationalism, especially since the Swadeshi movement of 1905-1908, expressed itself in the revival of traditional clothing among the educated. This adoption of the European dress marked the emergence of a new elite in Mizoram and a new way of signalling elite status and it distinguished the wearer from the uneducated.

Mizo nationalism

This book also brings out, through pictures, the rise of Mizo nationalism following New Delhi’s inadequate response to the famine in 1960-61, which resulted in widespread suffering as well as indignation throughout Mizoram. The famine changed the political landscape with the Mizo National Front (MNF) demanding complete independence from India for its failure to fulfil the assurances given to the people of Mizoram at Independence.

The retaliation of the Indian State, its army and its forced resettlement measures drove the MNF to take up arms. The insurgency lasted from 1966 to 1986, a period during which violent and less violent periods alternated. The rebel government functioned from Burma, China and Bangladesh as the situation demanded. With the Mizoram Accord signed in 1986, the Hills entered a new phase.

Apart from the Mizo nationalist struggle, the present volume also chronicles the issues faced by minorities — issues of economic rights and cultural identity that were compounded by political exclusion. While the Chakma were awarded an autonomous district in 1972, another minority section, the Bru, were left in the lurch. Threats forced tens of thousands of Bru to seek refuge in neighbouring Tripura. The discord between the Mizo state elite and the Bru minority is far from over.

The book is a major contribution to understanding the uniqueness of the North East, more particularly Mizoram, by offering a fresh approach to issues afflicting the region.

READ MORE - Tracing history through the lens

Aizawl FC become first Mizoram club to qualify for I-League

KOLKATA: Aizawl FC authored a new chapter in Indian football by qualifying for the top tier of the I-League after emerging champions in the second division with a round to spare in Golaghat, Assam, on Wednesday.

Aizawl FC beat state-rivals Chanmari FC 4-2 in the penultimate round to take their tally to 31 points from 13 matches. With LoneStar Kashmir FC playing out a 1-1 draw against Kenkre Sports in another match, Aizawl FC sealed their berth in the 2015-16 I-League on Wednesday itself.

Kashmir FC, who had to win to stay in the hunt, have 27 points and can't catch Aizawl FC even if they win their last match. L Laldampuia netted a brace, while Brandon VL and Alfred Jaryan got one each for Aizawl FC. Chanmari scored through M Malswamfela and C Lalrosanga.

Aizawl FC became the fourth team from the northeast to feature in the country's top league, but the first from Mizoram. They thus broke the monopoly of Shillong, which has `produced' three I-League clubs - Lajong FC, Royal Wahingdoh and Rangdajied United FC.

"This is really a great achievement for the club," said team manager Hmingthana Zadeng, who was not expecting the club to seal qualification on Wednesday itself. It's indeed an outstanding achievement by a club which was established in 1984 and almost became defunct a decade later. It was the untiring efforts of current president and owner Robert Romawia Royte which revived the club. And, within five years, they won the Mizoram Premier League and, now, have found a place among the elite clubs of Indian football. "Our aim was to qualify for the I-League... The hard work and dedication of the players and the coaching staff are the reasons behind this success," said Royte.

I-League CEO Sunando Dhar congratulated the team from Mizoram. "Aizawl FC have done a great job and it is good to have a team (in I-League) from a new state. Aizawl FC will get a lot of confidence from what Royal Wahingdoh have done in their first season," he said.

The entire bunch of Aizawl FC players represented Mizoram in the National Games in Kerala earlier this year and emerged champions. That helped the team immensely in their second division I-League campaign, as coach Dr Birbal Singh pointed out.

"The players have been together for over three months and that helped foster team spirit. We also learnt a lot from our campaign in the second division I-League last year when we failed to gain promotion. These factors played a big role in our arduous campaign starting from the first leg in Siliguri," said Singh, who is from Manipur. "The Mizo boys are extremely talented and all they need is proper guidance."

Apart from their foreign players - strikers Alfred Jaryan (Liberia), Morgan Justice (Nigeria) and defender Emmanuel Chigozie (Nigeria) - Singh praised midfielders David Lalrinmuana (captain) and Rohmingthanga Lengpui. "We have a good midfield and that allowed us to control most of the games," he quipped.

Asked about his plans now that the club has made the top grade, owner Royte said, "The immediate plan is to have a big celebration back home."

READ MORE - Aizawl FC become first Mizoram club to qualify for I-League

Slain AR jawan's body being brought

Aizawl: The body of Jerusalemthara, a jawan of the Assam Rifles killed in an encounter with the NSCN (K) militants near Changlangsu village in Nagaland's Mon district on Sunday, was being brought to Aizawl, Police said.

The 29-year old is survived by wife Lalthannguri and three young sons, the oldest being six years of age.

Police said that he would be accorded full military honours in Aizawl before being taken to his native Mizoram-Manipur border village of Vanbawng.

Jerusalemthara and seven other Assam Rifles personnel were killed and six others injured in an ambush by suspected NSCN (K) militants.

READ MORE - Slain AR jawan's body being brought